Rahmatillo Zoyirov, the leader of the Social-Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT) for more than two decades, has stepped down. He cited health problems as the reason for his resignation.
“I had led the party since 1999 and until today I had been its permanent chairman. Today, I step down< first of all, for health reasons. In recent years, I have been tormented by pains in my leg. On May 9, I decided to resign and get treatment,” Zoyirov said yesterday.
According to him, he put the question of his resignation and the new leader of the party to the party members back in December 2020.
“The issue should have been resolved at the party congress in March, but the congress did not take place because many party activists were abroad, mostly in Russia,” the 64-year-old lawyer told Asia-Plus yesterday.
“Now we have held the first part of the congress, I have reported and I was relieved. The second part of the congress to elect a new leader of the party on an alternating basis will be held in spring or in autumn to make it convenient for the guys to come from Russia,” Zoyirov noted.
Currently, until the elective congress, Qiyomiddin Azizov is an acting chairman of the party.
First deputy leader of SDPT not happy with this decision
First deputy leader of the SDPT, Shokirjon Hakimov, is not happy with this decision. According to him, Zoyirov’s resignation statement is contrary to the party charter.
“As a lawyer and the Candidate of Sciences in Law, Rahmatillo Zoyirov has an understanding of the theory and practice of the party structure. According to the party charter, if the party head cannot lead the party due to illness or other reasons, the duties of the chairman are assigned to the first deputy. The Political Council of the party should be convened, which should clarify the situation and take measures to convene an extraordinary congress,” Mr. Hakimov told Asia-Plus yesterday afternoon.
For his party, Mr. Zoyirov noted that the congress had taken place and he specifically had not invited his first deputy to the congress.
“I did not specifically invite Shokirjon to the congress because he is one of the alternate candidates for the post of the party leader,” he said.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, says Rahmatillo Zoyirov has stepped down citing lingering health issues stemming from an attack he suffered last year.
“My health has been wrong for a few years," Zoyirov told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service on May 26.
"Last September, I was severely beaten. The pain in my legs has not disappeared since then. So I wrote a letter to the Political Council asking that the conference not take place and release me. I have to be treated. "
Radio Ozodi says Zoyirov was assaulted in September in an incident he describes as politically motivated.
He was also attacked in November 2017 by a couple who called him a “traitor” as one of them beat him with a metal pipe.
Although the Social-Democratic Party is officially registered in the country, it has never been represented in parliament.
Founded in 2002, the Social-Democratic Party of Tajikistan was registered on December 20, 2002. It was originally registered as the Party of Justice and Development on February 5, 1999. Tajikistan’s Ministry of Justice requested the same year that the Supreme Court ban the party’s activities and its registration was canceled. The party re-emerged and was registered under the name of the Social-Democratic Party in late 2002. The party reportedly has about 8,000 members.
